Director, Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics

Founders President’s Distinguished Professor, Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School

Dr. Volpp is the founding Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, founded at the University of Pennsylvania LDI in 2008, and one of two NIA- funded Centers on Behavioral Economics and Health in the United States. He is also the Health Policy Division Chief of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and the Founder's Presidential Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Medical Ethics and Policy, and Health Care Management at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School. He is one of two Directors of the University of Pennsylvania CDC Prevention Research Center. Dr. Volpp's research on the impact of financial and organizational incentives on health behavior and health outcomes work has been recognized by numerous awards including the Alice S. Hersh Award from AcademyHealth; the British Medical Journal Group Award for translating Research into Practice; a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE); the Association for Clinical and Translational Science Distinguished Investigator Award for Career Achievement and Contributions to Clinical and Translational Science; and the Matilda White Riley Award for outstanding contributions to social and behavioral science research from NIH. He is an elected member of several honorary societies including the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences. Volpp did his medical training at the University of Pennsylvania and Brigham and Women's hospital and his training in Economics at the Wharton School. He is a board-certified general internist and practicing physician at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. He has collaborated with and advised a wide variety of private and public sector entities in the United States and internationally and is a principal of the behavioral economics consulting firm VAL Health. His work has been covered by major media outlets throughout the world such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, the Economist, the BBC, Der Spiegel, and Australian National Radio.